
The Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union (Sport&EU) will host its 11th Annual Conference on 27-28 June 2016 in Madrid. The local organisers will be the Institute for European Studies and the Centre for Competition Policy of CEU San Pablo University.
The association would like to seize the occasion of this annual conference to look forward to the most pressing challenges for the study of sport in Europe, both widely defined. We want to focus our 2016 annual gathering towards the future. This should be an occasion to test new ideas, new approaches and to debate what should be done differently so our work contributes even more to the study of Europe and mainstream academic disciplines.
Against this backdrop, the association invites the submission of paper and panel proposals that address one or more of the main thematic topics identified:
- European identity and sport. What is the relationship between a feeling of Europeanness and sport, if at all? How does sport reflect current socio-cultural and political crisis in Europe? How can we increase our understanding of sport in Europe from different disciplines, such as history, sociology, anthropology or gender studies?
- Sport governance. The governance of international and European sport seems to be at a point of crisis. What are the main problems and how can these be solved? What role, if any, can European public authorities play in sport governance? From a more academic point of view, how can sports governance be better studied? Are current models valid and reliable? Also, what differences can be found in different countries in relation to governance structures?
- The commercialisation of sport, the single market and competition policy: In view of recent Commission investigations, is there a need for a further separation of sport governing bodies’ commercial and regulatory roles? Is competition policy being properly applied to the sports sector? Is the role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in danger?
- Teaching sport and the EU: In an attempt to disseminate and debate best practice, we would welcome papers and panels that present innovative teaching approaches to our area of expertise. Papers in this area may take a more practical/best practice approach to generate discussion on teaching matters.
Following one of Sport&EU’s established traditions, we strongly encourage proposals with original interdisciplinary approaches including works in the fields of the social sciences, law, business, politics, etc. We would specially value submissions from areas that have not traditionally featured in our conferences, such as history, economics, communication and media or cultural studies.
As always we are also very interested to see work in progress by PhD candidates or graduate students.
In line with Sport&EU’s traditional policy of promoting gender equality and diversity, female academics and/or practitioners are particularly encouraged to send their proposals. Panels and papers that present an element of equality and diversity in their topic, framework or analysis will be considered favourably.
Given the focus of the conference on the future, we will value specially papers and panels with an innovative approach that have the potential to generate new theoretical/academic debates and start establishing an agenda for research. Risk and innovation are welcome.
How to submit a proposal
- Single paper proposals: Send a 250-word abstract, together with a short biography and your contact details.
- Panel proposals (maximum of 3 papers per panel): please send in a single document a 250-word panel abstract, together with a 250-word abstract for each paper and a short biographic note for each presenter. Please also indicate whether you have identified a chair for the panel or whether you would request the organisers to allocate one.
All paper and panel proposals should clearly indicate which one of the thematic topics they address.
Proposals should be sent by email to the organizers. Please note the submission deadline: 31 January 2016. All paper or panel proposals will receive a reply by 4th March 2016.